Time to Abolish the Regional Broadband Scheme?

News has emerged today that the Minister for Communications has approved an ACCC recommendation to reduce the Regional Broadband Levy from $8.46 to only $2.17 per month per broadband line for 2025-26. Despite its name, the Levy is actually paid by nbn Co’s urban fibre infrastructure competitors. In FY24, these competitors paid $25.5 million in levies under the Regional Broadband Scheme (RBS) that were transferred to nbn Co to support its regional fixed wireless and satellite networks, all in the name of competitive neutrality. The revised levy will bring down that amount considerably. At the same time, some exemptions to the levy expired at the end of FY25 that will bring the total up. But even taking that into account, we think that the new level will be around $13 million. This amount is a rounding error in nbn Co’s accounts. Yet the Scheme requires the involvement of the Department of Infrastructure, the ACCC and the ACMA, not to mention regulatory staff at every significant fixed broadband infrastructure provider in the country. This is a great example of a ‘nuisance tax’. If the Government were minded to heed industry calls for streamlined regulation, then the removal of the RBS and the associated levy would be an excellent place to start.